Abortion Foes

WASHINGTON -- In a surprising defeat for anti-abortion forces and their allies in the Republican leadership, the House yesterday rejected a proposal to abolish the federal government's principal family planning program and transfer the money to state block grants.The program, which provides grants to clinics around the country, survived on a 221-207 vote, with 53 Republicans joining 167 Democrats and one independent in the majority. The House then voted, 224-204, to reinstate $193 million in family planning funding.

Abortion opponents appealed to Gov.-elect Parris N. Glendening yesterday to abandon his campaign promise to lift current restrictions on state-funded abortions for poor women.A coalition of anti-abortion groups released the results of a new public opinion poll showing that most Marylanders want the restrictions on abortions financed under the Medicaid program left in place or even tightened.The abortion opponents claimed that the November election produced anti-abortion majorities in both houses of the General Assembly, and they predicted that Mr. Glendening is setting himself up for a political embarrassment if he tries to implement his promise.

JACKSON, MISS. -- The mission of the American Coalition of Life Activists is simply this: to drive out of business the lone physician performing abortions at the sole clinic in this state."

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court gave judges across the nation clear but limited authority yesterday to keep abortion clinics open and functioning when they are targeted by anti-abortion blockades.That power, however, may be used only to stop those who have tried to close clinics before or who pose a distinct threat to do so, the court majority made clear in the 6-3 ruling.The mere prospect that protesters might show up outside a clinic is not enough to justify court-ordered protection for clinics by limiting protesters' free-speech rights in advance, the court indicated.

WASHINGTON -- A jury in Houston raised significantly the financial risks for abortion foes who seek to shut down clinics by tacking an extra $1.01 million in damages yesterday onto an initial verdict last week of $204,585.The combined award of $1.21 million is the largest jury verdict ever against clinic blockaders in the wars that rage in courtrooms after angry, sometimes violent confrontations on sidewalks outside abortion facilities.The case was stirred by attempts to close 10 abortion clinics in the Houston area, a campaign that started just before the Republican National Convention in that city in 1992, and continued up to the time of trial.

WASHINGTON -- A law professor got nothing but trouble from several Supreme Court justices as he argued yesterday that anti-abortion blockaders should be free to shut down clinics without facing heavy damage verdicts under a federal anti-racketeering law.G. Robert Blakey, a Notre Dame professor, appeared to make little headway as members of the court repeatedly demanded specific proof from him that Congress meant to leave out clinic attacks in 1970 when it adopted a law against mob violence: the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO.

Church-goers who attended Mass at Baltimore's St. Pius X Roman Catholic Church over the weekend found themselves in the midst of an anti-abortion demonstration.As parishioners entered the York Road church, activists who oppose abortion stood outside the building, picketing one of the candidates in the parish council election.The candidate, Susan Hughes Gray, 38, supports abortion rights and last year campaigned for Question 6, a statewide referendum that held abortion legal.However, as they were handed neon-yellow fliers with the headline "St. Pius X Parish in Crisis," many church members said that they were unaware of any controversy over Ms. Gray's candidacy or views on abortion.

The war over abortion is being fought on a grand scale all over the country: in Congress, in courtrooms, in front of clinics. And then there are the occasional volleys heard here at home -- in leafy Mount Washington and suburban Baltimore County.On a recent October morning, that's where the campaigners against abortion took their fight."It's a civil war," said Don Treshman, the national director of Houston-based Rescue America, who was in Baltimore last week to address the anti-abortion group Defend Life.

About 200 adults and children carrying "Abortion Kills Children" signs lined Route 140 south from Route 97 yesterday, occasionally punctuating the din of traffic with a soft hymn or a quiet prayer echoing the words printed on their signs."

WASHINGTON -- The controversial French-made drug RU-486, used heavily overseas for abortion, may have many uses in treating women's medical problems and might even work as a birth-control pill, a National Academy of Sciences study committee said yesterday.In a broad new review of RU-486's scientific profile, the seven-member NAS committee argued that the drug's potential is so varied that U.S. doctors, scientists, laboratories and research clinics should be doing a multitude of studies on a faster-than-usual timetable.